a lifestyle blog

April Check-In & Small Goals

It’s time again for my monthly check-in. You may notice that it’s two weeks late, but I’ve been putting off writing this post because frankly my goals were a bust. That’s hard to share! March was a rough month for balancing school and work, and then Mass Effect: Andromeda was released. I really tried to hone in and finish the game on my one week away from school, which put all my other interests to the wayside and yet I still haven’t finished the game.

Here were my sad & unfulfilled small goals for March:

Read a chapter a night | I fell off the wagon with this one. I began slipping because the book I was reading was just eerie enough to make me uncomfortable in the evenings, so I stopped wanting to read it before bed, but I also didn’t carve out time to read during the day.

Practice French every morning with my coffee | I don’t know why I failed so miserably at this one. I started off really strong, zipping through my DuoLingo courses and getting excited about Montreal, and then one morning I simply didn’t do it. I rushed out the door (like, honestly, I do pretty often) and didn’t think about French again. With DuoLingo, every time you miss a day you lose some of your skills (which is good because it will refresh what you may need more practice with) but I started to get overwhelmed and didn’t pick it up again.

Go on a walk once a week | I did this zero times, even with the beautiful weather.

Watch one video for school every day | I watched a few videos for school, but certainly not enough, and I didn’t do a single THING for school during my measly spring break, which was not ideal.

Wait 24 hours before making any purchase | I actually did accomplish this, shockingly, and I feel great about it. I bought a few affordable Spring clothing items and I bought absolutely no makeup, so I’m pleased. I also thought this would be the most challenging of my small goals, but here I am.

It’s disappointing to see so much left undone, but I also think maybe those were bigger goals then I thought they would be. Habit-making takes time and effort and it may be better to focus on one at a time, moving forward.

Part of what helped me so much with reigning in my purchases was taking that inventory of all my products. I still don’t use everything I already have, so why am I compelled to go out and buy more? I know that I am a stress shopper, but things aren’t bringing me any comfort. I’d much rather save for big purchases (a nice camera, plane tickets, or heck, Sansa’s grooming).

For Spring, I’ve purchased a couple pairs of shoes, a kitschy sun hat, statement sunglasses (pictured above!), two off the shoulder dresses and a millenial pink windbreaker, so I feel good to go for warm weather wardrobe updates. I’ve started playing with eyeshadow shades I’ve been previously afraid of – like peaches and pinks – and have really liked the results. It’s possible, or likely, that changing my hair from various cool pastel shades to a rich brown has affected my entire color palette.

So what are my April goals? It’s almost nerve-wracking to decide.

April Small Goals

Work out 3 times | Three! Just three. ClassPass (use that link for $30 off your first month) is letting me take three classes for $10 in April … to keep me from cancelling … and I really want to take advantage of this, particularly since my favorite way to work out (Reformer Pilates) is exceptionally expensive.

No buy of clothes/makeup | Self-explanatory. I don’t need it, it won’t fulfill me, and if I love it enough to still love it in May, maybe I can buy it.

Watch my school videos | I pay $25 a month for Team Treehouse (which I highly recommend) as a supplement to what I’m learning in class, so I need to find the time to actually utilize them.

And that’s it. Three goals for April, so that I can hone in on them and hopefully accomplish all three.

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